<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An unexpected funeral in Musselburgh just before Christmas\nsaw us holed up at the Rockville Hotel in Joppa. This had the unexpected value\nof having rooms directly looking over the Firth of Forth. In fact they had tall\nwindows that were hinged to open all the way inwards so you could sit in your\nroom with a scope with no glass in-between. This gave us some great birding\nopportunities that helped take our minds of the upcoming funeral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
I had looked at the bird sightings for the area and to my\namazement I read that an American White-winged Scoter had been seen at Musselburgh\njust off the sea wall mixed in with some Surf Scoters. The former would be a\nlife tick and the latter a year tick so we were keen to go to the harbour at\nFisherrow. Unfortunately we did not see either but, on our return to the hotel,\nwe looked out of the window and saw four Scoters, at least three of which were\nSurf Scoters. Was the fourth the American cousin? I got my scope down to the\nwaterfront and over two days I managed to get progressively better views but I\nwas insufficiently confident that the fourth Scoter was the American bird \u2013\neven though it looked slightly bigger with more white around the eye. It also\nseemed to sit slightly higher up in the water. Very frustrating but I hope I\ncan see some photos of these birds in January that might help clear up whether\nwe had a life tick or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, Surf Scoter was a good year tick and getting a\nLong-tailed Duck from the comfort of our bedroom was another great year tick\nand they don\u2019t come easier than that. A third year tick, again almost\nimpossible to believe that we had not seen one earlier, came in the form of\nvery large numbers of Common Eider, also seen from our bedroom but commonly on\nthe sea everywhere we looked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had an opportunity to drive around Musselburgh as well,\nso we drove over to the mouth of the River Esk where we got Turnstones, Wigeon,\nGoldeneye, Oystercatcher and Great Crested Grebe. At high tide there must have\nbeen a couple of hundred Redshank roosting on the gravel banks in the middle of\nthe river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So our unplanned and unwished-for trip up north had at least\nbeen softened a little by an observation of life from which we derived, if not\nconsolation, at least a welcome distraction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
| Species<\/th>\n | No<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|
| Mute Swan<\/td>\n | 10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Eurasian Wigeon<\/td>\n | 8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mallard<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Common Eider<\/td>\n | 100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Surf Scoter<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Long-tailed Duck<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Common Goldeneye<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Red-breasted Merganser<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Great Crested Grebe<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Eurasian Oystercatcher<\/td>\n | 20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Ruddy Turnstone<\/td>\n | 10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Common Redshank<\/td>\n | 200<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Black-headed Gull<\/td>\n | 12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Common Gull<\/td>\n | 60<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Herring Gull<\/td>\n | 10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Great Cormorant<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Common Buzzard<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Eurasian Jackdaw<\/td>\n | 20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Carrion Crow<\/td>\n | 8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Pied Wagtail<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An unexpected funeral in Musselburgh just before Christmas saw us holed up at the Rockville Hotel in Joppa. This had the unexpected value of having rooms directly looking over the Firth of Forth. In fact they had tall windows that were hinged to open all the way inwards so you could sit in your room … <\/p>\n |